In the Care of Demons
by SableUndedicated
Summary: Kagome takes a fall and finds herself playing pet for an aristocratic demon, whose ice-cold son may be her only ticket home. - SessKag AU, Standard Disclaimer
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** I've had this sitting on my desktop for _months._ If I get good feedback, I'll continue. If not, I don't have enough time this year to support a whim story without a good fanbase. (I'm talking out my butt right now. You know if just one person likes this I'm so totally in. I just have to look like I'm taking responisbility for my school work this year...)

So please, review if you enjoy. Add to your favorites/alerts and keep tuned in!

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Chapter 1: Lost Huntress

Kagome didn't know which part of the forest she was in. If pressured, she would suggest that she was far to the north and west and far, far too close to the Great River.

The Demon's Forest was a dark, immense stretch of untamed woodland that marked the dividing line between the land of humans in the South and East and the land of the monsters called youkai, demons, in the North and West. The Great River was the clearest barrier between the two, the final warning.

There were guard towers built all through the Demon's Forest, and no matter which direction she walked in, she was bound to come across one eventually. At the very least, being lost in the forest would probably be the greatest story Kagome had _ever_ brought back for her brother.

He was certain to get a kick out of this- his sister, the mighty huntress, lost like a common city fool. On the other hand, maybe she should include something to make the situation sound a little less ridiculous- a life or death fight with a rabid raccoon dog… or something.

Kagome shook her head at her own stupidity. This wasn't the first time she'd taken a week to explore the forest on her own, hunting and gathering various useful herbs, but it was the first time she'd ever not known exactly which direction home was in.

Currently, she was wandering towards the south. The light that filtered through the trees above her was sparse at its brightest, lending ghostly shadows to the trunks that stretched in all directions.

It was mid summer, so the night would be warm, and Kagome could feel that there was no rain on the air. However, she was anxious to find the safety of a guard tower. Her father had always been ready with stories of terrible monsters that had crossed the Great River for one reason or another and lurked through human lands. She'd always taken his words to heart. She had never seen a demon herself, but there had been times when a feeling would come over her of being watched by eyes that belonged to a creature she'd never experienced the likes of before.

The darkness was tricky. If she looked too hard and too long at one spot that she could only half see, there would be a sort of sliding movement through the shadows, and if she blinked and looked again, all would be still. She hurried her pace, tightening her grip on her bow and checking the rope that looped around her shoulder and ensnared the legs of a rabbit she had shot only an hour or two ago. If she didn't find a tower soon, she'd have to stop and light a fire; she'd be grateful for the meal the rabbit would provide then. Currently, though, having several pounds of bloody meat slung over her shoulder was only serving to make her nervous, aware as she was of the predators that lurked through this forest.

She had almost decided to stop and make camp when a small noise ahead of her caused her to pause. If was a wuffling, snorting noise accompanied by the distinctive sound of something pushing through the cover of leaves that almost always lay on the ground in a forest like this.

Kagome knew that noise. She began to back away slowly. Wild boars were dangerous when they wanted to be, and when provoked, they could be absolutely deadly. She was almost certain that the boar was ahead of her, but the echo through the tree gave life to the illusion that there were boars all around.

She began to back away slowly, her eyes narrowed as she relied on her ears to keep tabs on the boar.

Just as she was turning to begin making her way around the boar, her foot snapped a small stick in two, the sound of the break jumping out into heavy night like an explosion. She winced and listened hard. The noise of the boar's foraging had ceased, but Kagome knew it was as alert as she was.

She heard a few faint rustlings, then nothing. A few seconds later, there were more rustling noises, the sound of something with four feet moving over fallen leaves. It was coming to investigate.

She was frozen, hoping it would go away. She pulled her bow around to firing position, soundlessly taking an arrow from her quiver and nocking it.

When a long, dirty snout appeared, she tensed. Behind it came heavy, thin head, the grizzled, hairy body, and sharp tusks of a male wild boar. She could barely see the thing, but knew that it could see her.

There were no trees around her that had branches low enough to reach. She took aim at the boar, the tip of her arrow searching out his heart, but did not fire.

She watched as best she could, all but blind in the darkness.

She took one careful step backwards. It was all the provocation a hungry boar needed, and he charged, his head down. In the single moment of adrenaline filled clarity, she realized she should have thrown down her rabbit the second she heard the boar for the first time.

Her arrow lodged into the boar's shoulder, but by the time it hit, she was already running in the opposite direction. Enraged and unhindered, the boar took off in pursuit, his short legs carrying him surprisingly quickly.

Kagome ran all out, her legs pumping and chest heaving. In between pushing through bushes and branches, she managed to get the rabbit off of its rope on her shoulder, dropping it to the ground.

She ran until her side began to hurt and she could no longer breathe with ease. When she finally stopped, she was panting too loudly to be able to hear anything. When no rampaging boar burst from the darkness to savage her after several minutes, she began to relax.

Once she had caught her breath, she began to get her bearings. She was still lost, only now it was pitch black and nothing at all was familiar. An owl hooted above her head, and she took a few steps into the darkness. The safest thing would be to find someplace to sit and wait out morning without sleep. Spiders and snakes ruled out the idea of sleeping in a tree for the night, and every other creature in the forest ruled out sleeping anywhere else.

She took a deep breath, mystified by the utter silence of the forest around her. It was creepy, really, the darkness and the lack of sound.

Kagome shook her head at herself again. She was in a mess, but not one she couldn't handle. She began to walk carefully, the light from the moon and stars just enough to keep her from smacking into trees and limbs.

She found herself soon in a tangle of low growing brush, the trees finally thinning out so that she could see well enough.

The moon was full and heavy, a good moon for midnight walks. Kagome snorted quietly to herself.

"Yes," she muttered, "that's what this is- a midnight walk; a stroll, in fact." She enjoyed the sound of her own voice after not hearing another human speak in two days.

She kept pushing her way through the brush, hoping to find a patch of ground that was more grass than anything else. By the way the moon hung, she figured she was heading north, but shrugged it off as unimportant.

"I'll head back south in the morning," she told herself, adjusting her grip on her bow. "A little further north won't _kill_ me…"

A bush to the left of her rattled dryly. Kagome jumped to her right, startled. She saw, briefly, a large, furry body making its way out of the bush. Her foot slipped, soft dirt giving way. She fell, a strangled scream escaping her throat before she hit the broad, calm bend of the River.

Her first though upon hitting the water was _It was just a raccoon dog… _and her last thought before smacking her head against a rock on the river bottom was _I guess I was farther North than I thought. _

End Chapter


	2. Chapter 2

**AN**: Well, actually, I have nothing to say. Read on. Don't forget to review!

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Chapter 2: Mother's Whims

The morning was cool and bright, the perfect sort of morning to be awake for. The birds sang their fast little hearts out, leaping from perch to perch in play and war.

A small kingfisher perched on a high branch, emitting an anxious _shrit-it-it_.

From the ground beneath it, a line of fast-moving light whipped upwards. The bird leapt from its branch, screaming its alarm, but the light overtook it. The whip cut the bird cleanly in two.

"Now, Sesshoumaru, was that entirely necessary?" asked a reproachful feminine voice.

"Yes," intoned a much deeper voice.

Underneath the fisher's tree, the two demons watched the separate pieces of the bird's body fall to the ground. The female looked on with slight disappointment.

"It wasn't doing anything to you!" she said, turning narrowed eyes on her son.

The male returned her gaze blankly. "It was loud. There are plenty of other birds on this side of the River, Mother."

She shook her head, but resumed her walking. "Sesshoumaru, you must learn to be more tolerant."

Sesshoumaru settled in for a long lecture, one he had suffered through many times.

"Because if you are tolerant of other beings…" It was all about tolerance and being open to beauty. "Even _lesser _beings can teach us many things…" He sighed softly and turned his senses outward, sniffing the air.

"My dear, if you never learn to see the beauty in the world-"

"Mother, silence." Sesshoumaru had frozen in the path, his expression focused. He inhaled deeply once more, scenting the air.

"Sesshoumaru! That is no way to talk to your own mother! If you were any younger I would-"

"I smell blood," he interrupted, his voice calm.

His mother's immediate interest was palpable. "Whose is it?"

"A human's." Sesshoumaru began to move towards the smell.

His mother hurried to keep up with him. "A human? What is a human doing _here_? Is it dead, Sesshoumaru? Is it close?"

"If you would use your own nose, Mother, you could find out yourself," said Sesshoumaru, pushing past a wall of ferns. His mother, following closely behind him, huffed her displeasure with a dramatic sigh.

"Alas, I get no respect from mine only son!"

Sesshoumaru paused to scent the air again; then continued on, reassured he was following the right course.

"This is the fate of a mother who raised a warrior and a Lord: to be easily dismissed and dishonored!"

The sound of the River, which had been a constant, but distant, companion all throughout their walk, was now close. The scent of blood on the air was stronger.

"No love for your own mother! By what deed did I earn your hatred, O' Son? Was birthing you not enough to earn deference?"

Sesshoumaru pushed aside the arm of a leafy shrub and stepped passed it, surveying the stretch of water before him. He stopped short, his arm still extended to hold the branch aside for his mother.

"I should say I suffered mightily to bring you into this world- my body never has been the same. My- oof!" She smacked into his shoulder, her hair ornaments jingling merrily. "Sesshoumaru, why in the world did you-?"

Interrupting, again, he said, "_Look_, Mother."

"What…" She followed his gaze and gasped. She took several steps forward, until her slippers were at the edge of the slow-moving water. All her pretenses dropped when she turned to him.

"Go!" she demanded. "Bring it here."

Sesshoumaru would have refused, had the order come from anyone else. However, since she was his mother, he would indulge her- and satisfy his own curiosity.

On the opposite bank of the river, a small body was caught in the roots of a tree that grew from the steep bank.

Sesshoumaru took one look at the distance between the two banks and leapt. He sailed through the air smoothly, landing with precision on one of the same roots that had caught the human.

It was a girl, not young, but not old either. Her arm was caught on one of the roots and her quiver wedged firmly between one root and the embankment. Even as he watched, her chest moved. He didn't know how she'd gotten caught up in the roots, but being trapped there had probably saved her life, keeping her head up so that she breathed air instead of water.

He bent down, careful of his footing, and used one sharp claw to slice the strap of her quiver in two. The release of tension caused her body to jolt and her head to loll. He paused, taking a moment to study her face.

She was pretty enough for a human female, he supposed. He'd only seen three or four mature ones. She looked too young to be so far away from other humans and far too weak to be anywhere near demons.

"Sesshoumaru, are you going to just stand there all century or are you going to do as I said?" asked his mother, her voice impatient.

He heard her as if she'd been right next to him, though she hadn't shouted. He refrained from childishly rolling his eyes and bent again, this time wrapping a hand around the girl's arm to pull it out of its confines. Once he had freed her, he took hold of her by the shoulders, holding her away from his body- she dripped muddy water- and made another giant leap.

He landed next to his mother, who began to fuss over the human immediately.

"Oh, look, the poor thing's soaking wet, and injured, too," she sympathized. "Lay her down so I can look at her."

Sesshoumaru did as she asked, placing the girl on the ground. He called his youki to the surface of his skin, burning away the moisture and dirt that had clung to his hands after touching the girl.

His mother bent over her, careful to keep her pristine white sleeves away from the mud. "She's breathing, but she's out cold. Sesshoumaru, how far is the nearest human settlement to this part of the River?"

Sesshoumaru stood away from the two of them, inspecting his hands for any dirt he had missed. "Settlement?" he clarified. "At least three days travel at a human's walking speed. There is a guard tower closer though, perhaps only a half of a day's walk."

"Would a guard tower have a healer?" asked his mother, reaching out to touch the face of the human.

"Unlikely."

His mother glanced up at him, a look in her eyes that he had learned to be wary of.

A thought occurred to him. "You can't keep it, Mother," he said, his voice dark.

"_It_ is a she," she replied, lifting her chin. "And why can't I? You kept one."

Sesshoumaru growled softly in exasperation. "That was entirely different, Mother."

She growled back, hers a little more challenging. "I don't see how."

Sesshoumaru took a step closer, glaring at the human girl with disdain. "It will most likely die."

His mother laughed. "Sesshoumaru, that might possibly be the worst excuse you've ever given me," she said. "And like I said, _it_ is a she."

Sesshoumaru frowned at her for a moment, and then gave up. He could defeat any opponent in battle and conquer the will of any being, but pit him against his mother and he knew when to just give up. He gave an irritated growl.

"Do as you wish," he told her, "but I'm not carrying her home."

His mother shrugged and stood, lifting the girl with her. She held the girl in her arms like one would a pup. It was a little awkward, for the human was just as tall as the demon, but his mother, as usual, managed.

Sesshoumaru watched carefully, waiting to see the damp and muck seep into his mother's kimono, ruining it forever. His mother shot him a smug smile as a cloud of mist gathered at her feet, and he saw a brief glimmer of blue-green light across the surface of the girl's skin, hair, and clothes.

"A barrier… Mother, that's cheating," he said dryly, forming his own cloud and letting it raise him into the sky.

His mother smirked at him as she rose up after him. "Have respect for your elders, Sesshoumaru. We're _allowed_ to take the easy way out."

Sesshoumaru would have countered by telling her true age and pointing out that she was still young for a demon, but he didn't even _want _to think about the ways she could turn that statement against him. He merely conceded his defeat with silence as they flew back to the spreading palace they called home.

-end-


End file.
